It just hangs at the spinning pinwheel.
I shut the machine off and booted it into Verbose-mode (Command-V) and it stops at "Initializing Power Manager" or something very early on.

I pulled the battery and unplugged the machine, am letting it cool off (not that there's a point) -- it's one of the original MacBooks that had that "shutoff" problem with the wire that'd melt and short to the heatsink... but mine never had the issue because I wasn't using it very often at the time.

Happened to mine too. I tried booting from DVD and it didn't work. Even tried booting from leopard DVD and it didn't work. I made a genius bar appt but none are available until tomorrow at 7pm. Any ideas, anyone? ((

Happened to mine too. I tried booting from DVD and it didn't work. Even tried booting from leopard DVD and it didn't work. I made a genius bar appt but none are available until tomorrow at 7pm. Any ideas, anyone? ((

Given that your laptop is a 2.4 Alu (relatively new) this is worrisome. OP - what machine are you running? Are there other common hardware configs (added memory from a specific vendor / etc.).

I was able to reboot into the Snow Leopard Install DVD and I'm reinstalling now... I don't know if this is going to make a difference though. If it doesn't... I'm also going to hit up the Genius Bar tomorrow. Ugh!

When I installed Snow Leopard, it did the installer for a bit, but then the screen went black and the CD drive stopped spinning. After 10 minutes or so, I held the power button and rebooted, only to see the flashing folder with a ? in the middle. Now when I try to run the Snow Leopard DVD, it shows the normal boot procedure, but then when it should be going into the installer, the display goes blank instead.

I'm stuck at the spinning pinwheel too. It was in the installer and there was about 45 minutes remaining, I went to shower and when I came back, it has my background and had the spinning wheel. It's now an hour and a half.

When I installed Snow Leopard, it did the installer for a bit, but then the screen went black and the CD drive stopped spinning. After 10 minutes or so, I held the power button and rebooted, only to see the flashing folder with a ? in the middle. Now when I try to run the Snow Leopard DVD, it shows the normal boot procedure, but then when it should be going into the installer, the display goes blank instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvin1379

I'm stuck at the spinning pinwheel too. It was in the installer and there was about 45 minutes remaining, I went to shower and when I came back, it has my background and had the spinning wheel. It's now an hour and a half.

If I shut off the computer, will it suck getting it going?

okay both of you -- those are completely different problems, lol.
My laptop completed the install, but then wouldn't boot past the apple/spinning. You guys are having different issues

My laptop completed the install, but then wouldn't boot past the apple/spinning.

Same boat here. I am working with a white MacBook. I was able to boot to the installer cd by holding down the 'c' key and powering the unit on. Otherwise, I get the initial grey apple logo with the spinning wheel below it. Once in the DVD, I am working on repairing disk permissions and the disk itself. I will let you know if this helps.

Came to the system this morning to find it black screen and unresponsive. I can force it to shut down and power on. I get the normal chime, the grey apple, the spinning circle below it. It then sits there for several minutes. I see the screen change to the blue desktop background but only for half a sec and then the screen goes black.

- White macbook bought a year and a half a go
- Snow leopard install seemed to proceed OK for most of the install then restarted and system hung with apple logo, spinning ball and spinning hard disk for an hour or so.
- I forced restart and same hung problem and couldn't eject SL DVD
- Restarted with option key pressed down to enter startup manager and selected to boot from hard disk - and same hung problem
- Restarted by pressing C down and entered SL installation screen, decided to restore previous system from time machine back up ... restoring now

When I installed Snow Leopard, it did the installer for a bit, but then the screen went black and the CD drive stopped spinning. After 10 minutes or so, I held the power button and rebooted, only to see the flashing folder with a ? in the middle. Now when I try to run the Snow Leopard DVD, it shows the normal boot procedure, but then when it should be going into the installer, the display goes blank instead.

Please see my earlier post to view the problems i was encountering. This post is a followup.

Went to my genius bar appt last night and he was stunned because he hadn't heard of thr MacBooks hanging up at that point (right after power management). He took an external with 10.6 bootable, then reinstalled leopard again. It restarted and stayed at the grey screen for about five minutes, thn booted up with all of my data intact. But everything was extremely slow and it took minutes for everything to open and then it wouldn't even shut down. I gave it a few restarts and now it goes faster than ever. Everything seems just how it should be.
I'm not sure what the genius did special to make it work, but I guess I'd just recommend making an appointment and having the genius fix it.

I had the same problem during my first install -- it seemed to install OK (I didn't pay much attention to it and just let it run), then it hung at the apple logo and spinning circle.

But the 2nd install worked. This is what I did:

Held down "C" while booting so that it booted from the SL CD. I had to hold it down for a while.

Instead of installing from the CD, I chose to restore a Time Machine backup. That took 4+ hours, so I just let it run.

It restored perfectly. I then ran a disk permissions check with Disk Utility and repaired permissions.

I ran the SL installation again. This time I kept an eye on it.
At some point it wanted to reboot and there was a message asking me if I wanted to install a software update; I had put off installing the 10.5.8 update and it wanted to install that before restarting. I chose to restart without installing the update. (Since I wasn't paying attention the first time, maybe this is what caused the problem with the first install?)

I had the same problem during my first install -- it seemed to install OK (I didn't pay much attention to it and just let it run), then it hung at the apple logo and spinning circle.

But the 2nd install worked. This is what I did:

Held down "C" while booting so that it booted from the SL CD. I had to hold it down for a while.

Instead of installing from the CD, I chose to restore a Time Machine backup. That took 4+ hours, so I just let it run.

It restored perfectly. I then ran a disk permissions check with Disk Utility and repaired permissions.

I ran the SL installation again. This time I kept an eye on it.
At some point it wanted to reboot and there was a message asking me if I wanted to install a software update; I had put off installing the 10.5.8 update and it wanted to install that before restarting. I chose to restart without installing the update. (Since I wasn't paying attention the first time, maybe this is what caused the problem with the first install?)

It rebooted normally and SL is working great.

I don't even think you need to go that far. I just went into Disk Utility, did "repair disk", then reinstalled. Worked fine... didn't even have to do a Time Machine restore.

1. Snow Leopard disc in machine
2. Turn on holding down only the "C" key
3. After you pick your language go a few screens in and go to the startup menu and use disc utility.
4. Erase disc and make sure you pick the journal erase.
4a. close out disc utility and continue with install screen.
5. Continue the installation

1. Snow Leopard disc in machine
2. Turn on holding down only the "C" key
3. After you pick your language go a few screens in and go to the startup menu and use disc utility.
4. Erase disc and make sure you pick the journal erase.
4a. close out disc utility and continue with install screen.
5. Continue the installation

I hope this works for you! It sucks that you lose your data!

I am just getting so frustrated! - This process isn't even working. The disc is now inside the machine from where the intallation process began, and it rebooted itself, now it gets stuck on the grey apple logo screen with the endless cycle of the dreaded wheel.

I have tried switching on and holding down "C" and it does nothing. I don't really know what to do next, but this is really really poor as my Macbook Pro came TODAY and already I cannot use it.

how do you get into disk utility to repair disk? My mini is stuck on the wheel spinning nothing works and I don't have it backed up so I dont want to lose all my stuff by holding C and re-installing like mentioned previously

after installing SL it only goes to the grey apple and spinning wheel and just stays like that forever. i have held down c and it says that i can restore from time machine but i dont have anything saved so i cant restore anything and it wont let me just reinstall it so im stuck. ive also tried resting the PRAM and everything else on this thread. Nothing is working. please help

After going through the Snow Leopard installation and thinking all went well - I got some message that the installation couldn't be done - and I can't remember what the message was exactly. SO I tried again, then after several attempt, I remember my system restarting or something like that. Them it appeared that SL was going through the installation again - I got some weird message, and I remember NOT being to exit the installation, even seeing overlapping buttons on the screen. Well I don't remember what the next steps were, but I know now that my mac mini will not boot up. It starts with the chime, then apple logo, spinning wheel then my system SHUTS DOWN.

I tried to boot up using my Leopard disc instead and same thing - system would shut down. I called Apple - we did the Command, Option, R & P keys thing, also the Command C thing - nothing - my mac mini keeps shutting down!! The Apple Care guys said that it must just be a coincidence that my system seems dead not - and nothing to do with the SL installation. He wants me to take it to see a Genius. My Mac Mini is out of warranty - so I am really upset now.

Please - everything that I have read in this thread sounds the same, except I don't remember anyone mention that their system shuts down after initial screens. I can't even boot the discs up now :-(